DETAILED ACTION
This office action response the Request for Continued Examination application on 03/30/2026.
Claims 1-19 are presented for examination.
Notice of AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 03/30/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
This communication is in response to the amendments filed on March 30, 2026. Claims 1, 12 and 13 have been amended. Claim 1-19 are currently pending and have been considered below.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1, 12 and 13 have been carefully considered but are moot in view of the new grounds of rejection necessitated by Applicant’s amendments.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1-6, 9-14, and 16-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yang et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20200170052), (“D1”, hereinafter), in view of Yang et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20220046528 A1), (“D2”, hereinafter).
As per Claim 1, D1 discloses a method of operating a radio access point so as to provide network slicing functionality ([see, [0020], a RAN slice disclosed]), said radio access point (i.e., base stations 130-A to 130-N) providing a radio access network (i.e., an access network 120) for a telecommunications network ([see, [0026, 0030-0033], and Fig. 1, access network 120 may include base stations 130-A to 130-N, Access network 120 may establish or may be incorporated into a packet data network connection between UE device 110 and provider network 140 via one or more Access Point Names (APNs)]); and
said radio access point comprising a plurality of antenna elements ([see, [0033], access network 120 may include base stations 130-A to 130-N has RF transceiver may include an antenna array. Wherein the antenna array may include an array of controllable antenna elements configured to send and receive 5G NR wireless signals]),
the method comprises the steps of:
reserving a portion of the plurality of antenna elements for use only by a given network slice ([see, 0020], reserving the resources includes specifying one or more antenna beams generated by the 5G NR base station. Wherein reserve resources of the 5G NR base station for the generated RAN slice]), the reserved portion of antenna elements forming a set of antenna elements ([see, [0015, 0020, 0064], reserving the resources includes specifying one or more antenna beams generated by the 5G NR base station. On [0015], antenna arrays (antenna elements) may point to multiple users simultaneously using spatial multiplexing and/or beam forming]);
receiving instructions to transmit a network communication to a User Equipment (UE) of the telecommunications network ([see, [0078-0083], and Fig. 1, RAN slice manager 410 may receive instructions from provisioning system 150 (network communication), on [0083], the RAN slice manager 410 may associate the antenna beams with the RAN slice that enable gNodeB 210 to transmit the content to the subscribed UE devices 110]); and
identifying that the UE is allocated to the given network slice ([see, [0089], and Fig. 7, allocated RAN slice resources may be used to establish the requested new UE device session (block 730)]); and
transmitting the network communication (schedule transmission of data units) to the UE (the UE device session) by the radio access point (gNodeB) using the set of antenna elements that is reserved for use by the given network slice ([0020, 0088-0089], and Fig. 7, the particular scheduler 442 may schedule transmission of data units associated with the UE device session using the resources reserved for the RAN slice, wherein the reserving the resources includes specifying one or more antenna beams, which associated with the particular scheduler 442, based on the requirements, such as the latency and throughput requirements, associated with the RAN slice]), and
the radio access point (gNodeB 210) using only the set of antenna elements (particular antenna beams and/or portions of antenna beams) that is reserved for use only by the given network slice ([see, [0064, 0075], reserve resources associated with gNodeB 210 for the generated RAN slice for particular antenna beams and/or portions of antenna beams associated with a 5G NR antenna array of gNodeB 210]), and
antenna elements that are not in the set of antenna elements (particular antenna beams and/or portions of antenna beams associated with a 5G NR antenna array) from transmitting the network communication ([see, [0064, 0075], particular antenna beams and/or portions of antenna beams associated with a 5G NR antenna array that reserve resources associated with gNodeB 210 for the generated RAN slice]).
D1 doesn’t appear explicitly disclose: preventing other antenna elements that are not in the set of antenna elements.
However, D2 discloses preventing other antenna elements that are not in the set of antenna elements ([see, [0017, 0066], wherein transmitting multiple antenna beams to an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), determine if a particular UAV 110 has adequate radio frequency resources (e.g., particular antennas), avoid providing a network slice and/or antenna beam that would not be fully utilized by the UAV 110]).
In view of the above, having the system of D1 and then given the well-established teaching of D2, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify the system of D1 as taught by D2. The motivation for doing so would have been to reliable data services to UAVs results reliable network services while in flight, also optimizing use of network resources (D2, [0012]).
As per Claim 2, D1 and D2 disclose a method according to Claim 1, and D1 further discloses wherein the network slice is also provided at a core of the telecommunications network ([see, [0020], wherein the implement multiple RAN slices at a core of the telecommunication network]).
As per Claim 3, D1 and D2 disclose a method according to Claim 2, and D1 further discloses further comprising the step of receiving a command to establish the network slice at the radio access point ([see, [0063], receive instructions from provisioning system 150, relating to provisioning of RAN slices]), and performing the step of reserving the portion of the plurality of antenna elements in response to the command ([see, [0063], generate a new RAN slice in response receive an instruction from provisioning system 150 to generate a new RAN slice]).
As per Claim 4, D1 and D2 disclose a method according to Claim 3, and D1 further discloses wherein the command comprises a specified number of antenna elements that the set of antenna elements is to consist (involving some function) ([see, [0015], a number of predefined antenna array settings that may be selected to perform function for beam forming, and adjusted in real time to point in a particular direction]).
As per Claim 5, D1 and D2 disclose a method according to Claim 4, and D1 appears to be silent to the instant claim, and D2 further discloses wherein the number is selected in dependence upon a performance requirement of the network slice ([see, [0913, 0931], wherein the critical slices it would also be required to assign some guaranteed (dedicated) transport network and radio resources to the slice]).
In view of the above, having the system of D1 and then given the well-established teaching of D2, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify the system of D1 as taught by D2. The motivation for doing so would have been to provide dynamically shared dedicated resource results improved energy efficiency, and reduce the probability of collisions among packets by increasing the number of contention channels available (D2, [0692]).
As per Claim 6, D1 and D2 disclose a method according to Claim 1, and D1 further discloses wherein the steps of reserving, receiving, identifying and/or transmitting are only performed by a portion of the telecommunications network that is entirely upstream of the UE (i.e., perform uplink traffic) ([see, [0041], perform packet routing and forwarding and perform uplink traffic to a Radio Access Network (RAN) node (e.g., gNodeB 210)]).
As per Claim 9, D1 and D2 disclose a method according to Claim 1, and D1 further discloses wherein the telecommunications network is in the form of a wide-area cellular telecommunications network ([see, [0034], a wide area network (WAN) disclosed]).
As per Claim 10, D1 and D2 disclose a method according to Claim 1, and D1 further discloses wherein the telecommunications network is in the form of a wireless local area telecommunications network ([see, [0034], enable communication with, a local area network (LAN) disclosed]).
As per Claim 11, D1 and D2 disclose a method according to Claim 1, and D1 further discloses wherein the plurality of antenna elements form part of a Multiple-Input, Multiple-output (MIMO) antenna array ([see, [0032], advanced or massive multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) configurations (e.g., an 8×8 antenna configuration, a 16×16 antenna configuration, a 256×256 antenna configuration disclosed]).
As per Claim 12, is the Non-transitory computer-readable storage medium (CRSM) claim corresponding to the method claim 1 that has been rejected above. Applicant attention is directed to the rejection of claim 1. Claim 12 is anticipated by CRM being performed by the method above and therefore is rejected under the same rational as claim 1.
As per Claim 13, D1 discloses a radio access point for providing a radio access network for a telecommunications network ([see, [0020], and Fig. 1 a RAN slice and its networks disclosed]), the radio access point comprising:
a plurality of antenna elements ([see, [0033], an antenna array disclosed]);
a receiver for receiving instructions to transmit a network communication to a User Equipment (UE) of the telecommunications network ([see, [0078-0083], and Fig. 1, RAN slice manager 410 may receive instructions from provisioning system 150 (network communication), on [0083], the RAN slice manager 410 may associate the antenna beams with the RAN slice that enable gNodeB 210 to transmit the content to the subscribed UE devices 110]); and
a processor configured to:
reserve a portion of the plurality of antenna elements for use only by a given network slice ([see, 0020], reserving the resources includes specifying one or more antenna beams generated by the 5G NR base station. Wherein reserve resources of the 5G NR base station for the generated RAN slice]), said reserved portion forming a set of antenna elements ([see, [0015, 0020, 0064], reserving the resources includes specifying one or more antenna beams generated by the 5G NR base station. On [0015], antenna arrays (antenna elements) may point to multiple users simultaneously using spatial multiplexing and/or beam forming]);
identify that the UE is allocated to the given network slice ([see, [0089], and Fig. 7, allocated RAN slice resources may be used to establish the requested new UE device session (block 730)]); and
cause transmission of the network communication (schedule transmission of data units) to the UE (the UE device session) by the radio access point by means of the set of antenna elements that is reserved for use by the given network slice ([0020, 0088-0089], and Fig. 7, the particular scheduler 442 may schedule transmission of data units associated with the UE device session using the resources reserved for the RAN slice, wherein the reserving the resources includes specifying one or more antenna beams, which associated with the particular scheduler 442, based on the requirements, such as the latency and throughput requirements, associated with the RAN slice]).
the radio access point (gNodeB 210) using only the set of antenna elements (particular antenna beams and/or portions of antenna beams) that is reserved for use only by the given network slice ([see, [0064, 0075], reserve resources associated with gNodeB 210 for the generated RAN slice for particular antenna beams and/or portions of antenna beams associated with a 5G NR antenna array of gNodeB 210]), and
antenna elements that are not in the set of antenna elements (particular antenna beams and/or portions of antenna beams associated with a 5G NR antenna array) from transmitting the network communication ([see, [0064, 0075], particular antenna beams and/or portions of antenna beams associated with a 5G NR antenna array that reserve resources associated with gNodeB 210 for the generated RAN slice]).
D1 doesn’t appear explicitly disclose: preventing other antenna elements that are not in the set of antenna elements.
However, D2 discloses preventing other antenna elements that are not in the set of antenna elements ([see, [0017, 0066], wherein transmitting multiple antenna beams to an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), determine if a particular UAV 110 has adequate radio frequency resources (e.g., particular antennas), avoid providing a network slice and/or antenna beam that would not be fully utilized by the UAV 110]).
In view of the above, having the system of D1 and then given the well-established teaching of D2, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify the system of D1 as taught by D2. The motivation for doing so would have been to reliable data services to UAVs results reliable network services while in flight, also optimizing use of network resources (D2, [0012]).
As per Claims 14, D1 and D2 discloses the radio access point according to claim 13, and D1 further discloses wherein the number of antenna elements to be reserved for the given network slice is selected depending on the type of network slice ([see, [0913, 0931], wherein the base-station reserves prior resources for periodic real-time and non-real-time traffic, network slicing is envisioned to use dynamically shared resource, but for critical slices it would also be required to assign some guaranteed (dedicated) transport network and radio resources to the slice to make sure that the performance requirement can be met]).
In view of the above, having the system of D1 and then given the well-established teaching of D2, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify the system of D1 as taught by D2. The motivation for doing so would have been to provide dynamically shared dedicated resource results improved energy efficiency, and reduce the probability of collisions among packets by increasing the number of contention channels available (D2, [0692]).
As per Claim 16, D1 and D2 disclose the radio access point according to claim 13, and D1 further discloses wherein the processor is configured to identify available antenna elements from information provided by a Radio Resource Unit of the radio access point, and wherein the reservation of the plurality of antenna elements is performed in dependence on the identification of the available antenna elements ([see, [0015, 0081], wherein an antenna arrays that can be adjusted in real time to any available setting, particular resources that are reserved, and the amount of the available resources that are reserved may depend on the type of RAN slice and/or an importance or priority assigned to the new RAN slice]).
As per Claim 17, D1 and D2 disclose the radio access point according to claim 13, and D1 further discloses wherein the processor is further configured to:
reserve an antenna element for use by a further network slice, said antenna element not forming part of the set of antenna elements ([see, 0020], reserving the resources includes specifying one or more antenna beams generated by the 5G NR base station. Wherein reserve resources of the 5G NR base station for the generated RAN slice]),
thereby forming a further set of antenna elements ([see, [0015, 0020, 0064], reserving the resources includes specifying one or more antenna beams generated by the 5G NR base station. On [0015], antenna arrays (antenna elements) may point to multiple users simultaneously using spatial multiplexing and/or beam forming]);
receive instructions to transmit a further network communication to a further UE ([see, [0078-0083], and Fig. 1, RAN slice manager 410 may receive instructions from provisioning system 150 (network communication), on [0083], the RAN slice manager 410 may associate the antenna beams with the RAN slice that enable gNodeB 210 to transmit the content to the subscribed UE devices 110]); and;
identify that the further UE is allocated to the further network slice ([see, [0089], and Fig. 7, allocated RAN slice resources may be used to establish the requested new UE device session (block 730)]);
transmit the further network communication (schedule transmission of data units) to the further UE (the UE device session) by the radio access point by means only of the further set of antenna elements that is reserved for use only by the further network slice ([0020, 0088-0089], and Fig. 7, the particular scheduler 442 may schedule transmission of data units associated with the UE device session using the resources reserved for the RAN slice, wherein the reserving the resources includes specifying one or more antenna beams, which associated with the particular scheduler 442, based on the requirements, such as the latency and throughput requirements, associated with the RAN slice]).
D1 doesn’t appear explicitly disclose: the radio access point using only the set of antenna elements that is reserved for use only by the given network slice.
However, D2 discloses the radio access point using only the set of antenna elements that is reserved for use only by the given network slice ([see, [0913, 0931], wherein the base-station reserves prior resources for periodic real-time and non-real-time traffic, network slicing is envisioned to use dynamically shared resource, but for critical slices it would also be required to assign some guaranteed (dedicated) transport network and radio resources to the slice to make sure that the performance requirement can be met]).
In view of the above, having the system of D1 and then given the well-established teaching of D2, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify the system of D1 as taught by D2. The motivation for doing so would have been to provide dynamically shared dedicated resource results improved energy efficiency, and reduce the probability of collisions among packets by increasing the number of contention channels available (D2, [0692]).
As per Claim 18, D1 and D2 discloses the method according to claim 1, and D1 further discloses wherein the number of antenna elements to be reserved for the given network slice is selected depending on the type of network slice ([see, [0913, 0931], wherein the base-station reserves prior resources for periodic real-time and non-real-time traffic, network slicing is envisioned to use dynamically shared resource, but for critical slices it would also be required to assign some guaranteed (dedicated) transport network and radio resources to the slice to make sure that the performance requirement can be met]).
In view of the above, having the system of D1 and then given the well-established teaching of D2, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify the system of D1 as taught by D2. The motivation for doing so would have been to provide dynamically shared dedicated resource results improved energy efficiency, and reduce the probability of collisions among packets by increasing the number of contention channels available (D2, [0692]).
Claims 7-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over D1, in view of D2, and further in view of HANNULA et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2022/0029713), (“D3”, hereinafter).
As per Claim 7, D1 and D2 disclose a method according to Claim 1, and D1 doesn’t appear explicitly disclose: further comprising the step of identifying available antenna elements from information provided by a Radio Resource Unit (RRU) of the radio access point; wherein the step of reserving of the plurality of antenna elements is performed in dependence on identifying the available antenna elements.
However, D3 further discloses further comprising the step of identifying available antenna elements from information provided by a Radio Resource Unit (RRU) of the radio access point ([see, [0020], wherein the communications system typically comprises more than one (e/g)NodeB, includes wireless, and antenna unit may comprise a plurality of antennas or antenna elements]), wherein the step of reserving of the plurality of antenna elements is performed in dependence on identifying the available antenna elements ([see, [0049], enable routing of RF signals between the one or more devices 216, 218 and the set of antenna elements]).
In view of the above, having the system of D1 and then given the well-established teaching of D3, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify the system of D1 as taught by D3. The motivation for doing so would have been to provide Using many antennas in an array results improves the directivity and this high antenna directivity may be used to compensate for high path losses at higher frequencies (D3, [0035]]).
As per Claim 8, D1 and D2 disclose a method according to Claim 1, and D1 further discloses further comprising the steps of:
reserving an antenna element for use by a further network slice ([see, [0020], wherein the implement multiple RAN slices, reserve resources of the 5G NR base station for the generated RAN slice, wherein reserving the resources includes specifying one or more antenna beams generated by the 5G NR base station]),
receiving instructions to transmit a further network communication to a further UE; identifying that the further UE is allocated to the further network slice ([see, [0078-0083], wherein the RAN slice manager 410 may receive instructions to create a new RAN slice record 500 in RAN slice DB that support User Equipment (UE) of the telecommunication network]), said antenna element ([see, [0033], antenna array may include an array of controllable antenna elements]) not forming part of the set of antenna elements thereby forming a further set of antenna elements ([see, [0015], a number of predefined antenna array settings that may be selected to perform beam forming]). D1 doesn’t appear explicitly disclose: transmitting the further network communication to the further UE by the radio access point by means only of the further set of antenna elements that is reserved for use only by the given network slice.
However, D3 discloses transmitting the further network communication to the further UE by the radio access point by means only of the further set of antenna elements that is reserved for use only by the given network slice ([see, [0034, 0048-0049, 0059], and Fig. 2A, wherein RAN slice manager may associate the antenna beams with RAN slice and may reserve time slots and channels to enable gNodeB 210 to transmit the content to the subscribed UE devices via set of antenna elements 208]).
In view of the above, having the system of D1 and then given the well-established teaching of D3, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify the system of D1 as taught by D3. The motivation for doing so would have been to provide Using many antennas in an array results improves the directivity and this high antenna directivity may be used to compensate for high path losses at higher frequencies (D3, [0035]]).
Claims 15 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over D1, in view of D2, and further in view of Ijntema et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20210345357), (“D4”, hereinafter).
As per Claims 15, 19, D1 doesn’t appear explicitly disclose: wherein the instructions instruct an allocation of the plurality of antenna elements to network slices in a prioritized manner based on a priority level; and the processor is further configured to transfer an antenna element already reserved to a lower-priority network slice to a high-priority network slice.
However, D4 discloses wherein the instructions instruct an allocation of the plurality of antenna elements to network slices in a prioritized manner based on a priority level ([see, [0005], dynamically managing network slice priorities disclosed]); and the processor is further configured to transfer an antenna element already reserved to a lower-priority network slice to a high-priority network slice ([see, [0045], slices with higher priority will take over resources from lower priority slices. This may result in other slices being de-instantiated from the network infrastructure]).
In view of the above, having the system of D1 and then given the well-established teaching of D4, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify the system of D1 as taught by D4. The motivation for doing so would have been to provide network slice priorities results improve the ability for CSPs to provide end users an uninterrupted and high-quality service experience by reducing the number of network slice de-instantiations (D4, [0006]]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BERHANU D BELETE whose telephone number is (571)272-3478. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 7:30am-5pm, Alt. Friday, and EDT.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, JEONG, MOO R. can be reached on (571) 272-9617. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/BERHANU D BELETE/Examiner, Art Unit 2468
/WUTCHUNG CHU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2418
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